We pass over for a moment the administration of Lord Rockingham, as we
have already passed over the taxation of our North American Colonies by
Mr. Grenville, because it will be more convenient to take all the
transactions relating to that subject together when we arrive at the
time when the troubles arising out of the policy of the different
administrations toward those Colonies were brought to a head by the
breaking out of civil war. Lord Rockingham's ministry, which succeeded
Mr. Grenville's, had, as is well known, but a brief existence, and was
replaced by the cabinet so whimsically composed by Mr. Pitt, who
reserved to himself the office of Privy Seal, with the Earldom of
Chatham; the Duke of Grafton being the nominal head of the Treasury, but
the direction of affairs being wholly in the hands of the new Earl, till
the failure of his health compelled his temporary retirement from public
life. Lord Chatham was brother-in-law to Mr. Grenville, to whom in the
occasional arrogance and arbitrariness of his disposition he bore some
resemblance; and one of the earliest acts of his administration, when
coupled with the language which he held on the subject in the House of
Lords, displayed that side of his character in a very conspicuous light.
The summer of 1766 had been unusually wet and cold, both at home and
abroad, and the harvest had, in consequence, been so deficient as to
cause a very general apprehension of scarcity, while rumors were spread
that the high prices which the shortness of the crops could not fail to
produce were artificially raised by the selfish covetousness of some of
the principal corn-dealers, who were buying up all the grain which came
into the market, and storing it, with the object of making an exorbitant
profit out of the necessities of the consumer, not only at home but
abroad.
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